Jane Fonda's got nothing on me!*

Lately, I've been feeling kind of like this:



Which leads to me feeling like this:


But when catching a glance of myself before my eyeglasses were mercifully removed to get in the shower this morning, I saw this:



I knew I had to do something. So, I re-resolved to get my assorted rolls-n-dimples over to the gym regularly, starting today. (I must be firm with myself or I'll never go.) And so I put on my workout clothing and sneaks, threw Kiddo in the car, drove up to the corner (hey, it was cold, besides) and as soon as I'd seen her onto the bus, I drove immediately over to the Y, do not pass go, do not spend the morning snacking and blogsurfing.

Once I'd left my stuff in a locker, I decided to get the bad news over with. You see, along with the whole "not exercising regularly" thing I've had going on, I've been eating worse than usual of late, as well. Kiddo is on a Cheez Doodle kick, so I've been using that excuse - "they're for her lunch!" - to buy and keep Doodles in the house. And I've been eating the majority of them. Me, not Kiddo. I parcel them out so sparingly to her - a mere handful in one of those itty-bitty snack-sized baggies - but the bag has been empty before week's end nonetheless. (Pardon me while I lick the telltale orange powder off my fingers....) It isn't just Cheez Doodles, either. This month, between PMS and stress from all the ongoing ridiculousness with the school district's IEP noncompliance (and yes, that *is* still going on - how happy I will be when we've moved to another district for next year!!), I've been eating and eating and eeeeeeeating. Like I said,



So, I was expecting to find a gain of at least four or five pounds when I hopped on the gigantic, "slide the weights over much too far to the right" old-school scale in the Y locker room. At the best, I was hoping to have remained at the weight I was when last I hopped aboard the scale, which was during my last big working out kick too many moons ago.

Lo and behold..... I've LOST six pounds! SIX POUNDS! From doing NOTHING except blogging and eating and blogsurfing some more... Perhaps it is my extremely fast typing speed, but apparently blogging appears to really be burning calories...

Now, don't worry, I didn't take this weight loss as a sign I should immediately head for home and plunk myself down in front of the computer with a bowl of Cheezy goodness at my side. I was so excited, I made a beeline for the elliptical trainer and pounded out a little over a mile and a half in less than half an hour (it helped that I was totally absorbed in the Today Show, as I forgot to grab a book on my way out the door this morning). Considering I usually average a 20 minute mile on the elliptical and that I hadn't worked out in eons, doing 1.7 miles in 27 minutes was pretty good! I headed towards the weight circuit, but it was chock full of people so I wound up bagging that plan and headed off to get a haircut (my bangs were halfway down my nose) instead.

I plan to continue this routine of putting Kiddo on the bus and then heading straight to the gym in the morning and see whether I can purposefully lose some more weight between now and, say, my birthday (mid-December) or Christmas... That way when I take to the dance floor at Hubby's office holiday party this year, his coworkers won't see this:

Heather's Holiday Party Dance Moves

And with any luck (I know, it isn't luck, it's hard work and dedicated effort...) I might be able to say goodbye to a few chins and a jeans size or two!



* Yeah, I name-checked Ms. "Haven't been an exercise guru since the 80s" Fonda in the title of this post. It was between her and Richard Simmons. Sadly, my Workout Mavens References are all woefully out of date. If anyone has a suggestion more current (Susan Powter? Suzanne Somers and her Thighmaster?) I'd be happy to hear it! In the meantime, Jane stays...